Black and Blue
by Olive nerd
Summary: In the end, Charles had to choose between his best friend and his best escape. During XMFC, precedes DOFP Raven/Charles/Erik


Black and Blue

**I do not own anything from the X Men series.**

"When faced with two equally tough choices, most people choose the third choice: to not choose. –Jarod Kintz_, This Book Title is Invisible_

They all had a rough day, and sleep welcomed them at an earlier than usual hour that night. Still, no hint of yawning could seduce one mutant, especially when the "itches" began.

The "itches" were what Charles nicknamed Raven's daytime nightmares, daydreams that prevented her from sleeping. Raven Darkhölmenever had another "itch" since she was a little girl. But ever since she and Charles welcomed the humans, Agent Moira, and several other mutants like them, the itches wouldn't stop bugging Raven.

Oftentimes they came during the mutants' training sessions. She could have been lifting weights and going for a run when suddenly a feeling a dread hit her. "_This won't end well",_ the voices would scream. "_Charles will fail you, and you'll fail him". _The worst warning of them all was "_He's not yours to own."_

One day, Raven was speaking to Hank about his recent discoveries regarding mutated DNA when two shadows drifted across the window facing them. A soft baritone met a familiarly cheerful voice, and Raven's heart grew heavy and froze.

"They sure are getting along," Hank commented shyly; as Raven approached the window and saw Erik, the strange man she met months ago, the stoic metal-bender, give Charles a winning smile and a pat on the shoulder.

The contact was guileless, but Raven knew all the subtle hints. She played that game. To the blind eyes and deaf ears of Charles Xavier, her Charles, the pats, hugs, and pecks were sisterly tokens of affection and even insecurity, the ever-loving and gentle "sister" of the busy professor. But when any other human or mutant, even the mediocre CIA agent Moira or Erik, (especially Erik,) used the same amount of charm, Charles responded. Charles accepted. Charles belonged.

"_He'll be the undoing of you."_

Raven gradually began to realize her "brother" was what she missed and feared to lose to the monsters, the ones who threatened, killed, and called themselves "one of their own." The monsters that did away with both humans and mutants, including Darwin, didn't deserve to win her brother's affection. Nevertheless, she could only protect him for so long ever since Moira and Erik waltzed into their lives. It was a matter of time before the monster that was Erik Lehnsherr would take him from her.

That night, she could have been furious. It was him who kept her up, him who didn't need a vicissitude, didn't need locks of glossy blonde hair or other trivial traits of Charles, her Charles's, crushes. But on that particular night, she didn't have the heart to see Erik. No, she always wanted Charles.

xxxx

Before Charles drifted to sleep, he remembered the unyielding emotion behind Erik's cool demeanor. What was he to do to appease the one man who puzzled and worried him like no other? What was he to do to satisfy Erik, whose intentions shouted "vendetta"? What about the children and Moira and Raven?

His mind was so preoccupied as his eyelids finally convinced him to give in to a heavy slumber that he didn't notice the other presence in his room.

xxxx

Moonlight found its way in the crevices of the walls of the bedroom as blue fingers danced over brunette tresses. Golden eyes flickered to the door as footsteps echoed and grew louder and louder. If one were to enter the room at that moment, be it human or mutant, he or she would have thought lovers were in the room.

But, Erik wasn't just any mutant. His room was a breath away from Charles's, and he happened to hear someone nearby. He tiptoed into the room soundlessly, but the damage was already done during the pregnant silence between the mutants. His entrance was audacious enough, said enough about his intentions, and yet Raven refused to read between the lines. She'd amuse him first.

Red hair turned blonde as she whispered to Erik, "Forgot something? Need anything?" Her fingers still tauntingly lingered as they tickled the knuckles of Charles' clutched hands.

Erik suppressed a shudder, feeling the weight of suspicion. He never felt this cornered since his daily checkups with Shaw. As soon as he saw the smug grin on Raven's light pink lips, however, Erik glowered and hissed reproachfully, "You obviously did. We're all exhausted, Raven. Why don't you go back to bed and leave Charles alone?"

"You aren't the least bit tired." Raven observed. Erik said nothing. "You're worried about someone you just met? I've known him since I was small." She kept a humored tone but didn't stop there. "Concern for others… says a lot about a person, does it not?"

Erik glanced at Charles; thinking about the advice the telepath gave him. "So it does."

"_There is so much more to you than you know."_

"I can't leave my brother trembling," she cooed innocently, watching Charles shiver as Erik growled and grabbed her hands. "I was only comforting him and looking for comfort myself."

"What for?" Erik's blacker than blue eyes softened a measure. Maybe this young girl had experienced a misery similar to his before they met. Maybe she was just as misunderstood as him, like Charles, and didn't need to defend herself.

Erik's feeling of empathy quickly left as Raven stood up to his level, shoved him, and whispered, "That's none of your business! I've had to steal for a living for quite a while. He's had to provide for me like a father, so don't come crying to Charles and making him pacify you! You may have suffered more than the rest of us, and I apologize. But, please stay away from Charles from now on. He has enough to deal with. I know what's…." Her face fell. "…Going on."

"_He's not yours to own."_

"My association with your 'brother'-" He slowly crouched beside Charles's bed and mimicked Raven's actions, only to make a statement. "-Is not your concern. I've see the way you look at him, and sweetheart…" He chuckled a bit and kissed Charles's forehead, locking his dark eyes with Raven's. "I've never been more damn amused in my life."

"You hardly know him," Raven seethed, her skin bluing to its original hue with every word she spoke.

Erik's gaze smoldered as Charles unconsciously reached for the metal-bender in his sleep, and Erik slipped a coin in Charles's opened palm. "For the past few months, I know him more than you can ever know him, and he knows me more than you can ever know me. Grow up. We're at the brink of war. Unless your tea party has its own set of artillery, leave this petty dispute for the both of us."

"You freak!" Raven gasped. "Don't talk to me like I'm a child. This isn't just about Charles."

"Then what is it about, Raven? Obviously, you didn't stop by Charles's room for out of boredom. "

He couldn't have been more right. All the hints, all those blondes and doe-eyed girls stealing Charles away from her… the decision was his and came to this. The pain was inescapable, and now Charles claimed another, a stranger love, minds locked and heart set. The truth suffocated her.

The itching reached its peak. Erik was a hazy blur in Raven's vision, even when Charles started to stir. "Raven," he murmured. "Erik. What… on Earth?"

"You're dreaming," Eric explained, shamelessly pecking Charles's cheek and checking to see if Raven could see, "Sleep well." Once Erik left, Raven decided to follow suit, but not before shaking her head disapprovingly at Charles and wiping the salty tears drizzling her cheeks.

xxxx

_It was all a dream, _both Charles and Raven thought as they sat down for breakfast with Hank, Alex, Sean, and Moira. _I'll put the dream behind me… Now…._

"Hurry everyone because training is today," the ordered simultaneously. Charles raised his eyebrows amusedly at Raven, as she blushed and sipped her tea.

"Reading my mind," Raven guessed, smirking as the Charles she knew and loved smiled and passed her some cinnamon toast, knowing her plate of eggs and bacon would go untouched with some.

"I only do that in my sleep."

"Mind stalker," Sean whispered teasingly, munching on some bacon and smiled flirtatiously at the CIA agent, Moira. "You're a swell cook, Agent M!"

The human blushed and said "thank you," while Raven scoffed slightly. Leave it to the only human in the manor when it came to showing off to the bottomless pits that were men and their stomachs.

"I only helped Charles with the cinnamon toast," Moira confessed, starry-eyed as she shared a look with Charles and nibbled on her toast. "But, Charles did a majority of the cooking."

Raven gagged a bit, not only because a human cooked most of her meal, (and could have read in some confidential files that the mutants enjoyed cinnamon toast for breakfast,) but also because Charles was actually turning into the pushover and "mother hen" Alex assumed he'd become. Where was _her_ Charles, the mutant who didn't give a damn about what any human wanted? Where was he, who held Raven's hand and crushed on blondes and read to her bedtime stories and held her when she cried or had a bad day? Where was the mutant who loved her first, before any Erik Lehnsherr?

As her eyes shifted to Charles, she noticed where he was staring: the kitchen, where Erik would enter from at any given moment. Sure enough, Erik entered the dining room with a plate full of food and a glass of orange juice.

"Morning everyone," Erik chirped, sitting right beside Charles and Hank, who had to scoot over a bit to give the broader mutant some elbow room. "What are we doing on this fine morning?"

Alex snickered at Erik; his fork perched on his plate of eggs. "Who spiked your coffee this morning, Papa?"

Raven cringed at the nickname, harmless as it was. Its similarity to "mother hen", however, branded itself in her mind, reawakened that memory of Charles, vulnerable, reaching for Erik….

"Papa's a stretch, son. By the way…" Erik levitated a coin,_ the_ coin, and it met Charles's palms. "You forgot this token, my friend." A rosy blush crept on Charles's cheeks, as he realized his dream wasn't a dream at all. Moira cocked her head and mouthed "what" to Hank, who shrugged and scooted a bit farther from Erik, who wouldn't stop grinning to himself. Alex contained his giggling, while Sean snorted, even though both of them were somewhat confused. Raven, meanwhile, left the dining room.

_So much for it all being a dream…_

The projected thought rippled and yanked Charles away from Erik's side. The brother in him returned to Charles but all too late. Once he finally caught up with her, Raven's face was damp with fresh tears.

"Raven…"

"Mark my words, Charles." That voice wasn't hers, not his Raven's. Raven's voice as musical and sweet. This voice was something new entirely, seductive and alluring, but also dangerous. "You'll have to make your choice one day, when you're beaten and left on your own. When that day comes, I won't be there to help you."

"He doesn't need your help." Erik met up with the two other mutants, frustrated. "We don't have time to deal with you, Raven."

"Erik…" What was going on? Where was Charles's voice of reason? Last night, (which apparently wasn't at all a dream,) he found them both in his room. Did Erik hurt Raven? Did she hurt him? Why wasn't he asking questions?

_Him or me, Charles…._

Even though Charles was confused then, that single thought, Raven's plea, was all Charles needed to understand his predicament after the Cuban Missile Crisis. When he thought he had one war planned and ready for, another more personal war waited for him once the first was over. His closest allies, his closest friends, his almost lovers, simply and ultimately left him black and blue because he refused to choose him or her.

**Citation/Source: **** work/quotes/19267044**


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